Defense Only Requires Heart
by HallowRain8587
Summary: Casualties of the Second Wizard War come in all sized, but the size of the wizard does not determine the size of his heart. Bravery can come in small packages. Chapter 3 of the DADA Assignmentsis posted. AU/OoC
1. Chapter 1 How Does One Become a Ghost?

**Disclaimer: The characters belong to J.K. Rowling, this story is based on events in HPDH.**

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><p><strong>How does one become a ghost?<strong>

Life was boring for Colin Creevey. Being a muggle-born wizard he was not allowed to attend Hogwarts for his sixth year*****. Professor McGonagall had insisted that he was in grave danger due to his blood status. The only thing that made it even interesting at the safe house where he and his family had been relocated was that his brother Dennis was there too. Well that and the fact that the muggles next door were Harry Potter's Aunt, Uncle and Cousin.

At first Dudley didn't want anything to do with the boys, but as the year wore on and there was little to do except keep watch for "strangers" entering the small enclave. They couldn't actually practice their spells and charms or it would give away their location, but the wizards being muggle-born were aware of shadow boxing and did something similar to keep up their skills. They would sit with their wands and talk their way through the spells then do the motions, but never using those together. That was how Dudley actually met them. They were in the recreation area practicing and talking about the Patronus charm. Dudley asked if that was what Harry had used to run the Dementors off when they were attacked. Colin was interested because he had been told that Dementors couldn't be seen by muggles. Dudley explained that even though he had not seen them he had certainly felt them. Dudley was amazed to find that Harry had been instrumental in teaching the boys Defense Against the Dark Arts and Colin had learned to also cast his Patronus. The boys didn't know a lot more than anyone else about the war. They told Dudley that they still had their Galleons with the Protean Charm and Neville Longbottom would call them to arms when it was time for them to fight. Once he found this out he was always asking the brothers questions about the school, DA and the war.

May second nineteen hundred ninety eight dawned quietly. The sun was shining and everyone was going about their business. Suddenly, the charmed Galleons of all DA members began to glow. Neville had sent the alarm that Harry Potter was in Hogwarts and that they could gain entry through the Hog's Head Inn. They were to pass the word to members of DA that had lost their Galleons. This was the call to arms.

Meanwhile, Professor McGonagall was ushering all the underage students out of the castle. Colin was trying to get in. She shooed him back through the tunnel, but turned her back to see what was happening with the Slytherins that were also sneaking back in, he returned. Stealthily he made his way to the front door of the castle. With his wand at the ready and he watched over his shoulder for someone trying to come up behind him. Exiting the castle he was met by a barrage of spells and jinxes. He cast a protection spell and an expulsion spell to unarm one of the older Slytherin students. Just then he was attacked by Dolohov who used a Sectumsempra which sliced through his lung and heart killing him instantly. There he lay on the lawn until Neville and Oliver Wood carried his body back into the Great Hall.

The next thing Colin knew was that he was sitting on a window sill looking down on the dead from the war. He shook his head as if to awaken himself from the nightmare. There lay Fred Weasley with his family around him crying and hugging one another. Down the way was Professor Lupin and his wife. Somebody had laid them with their hands touching.

A tear would have welled up in his eye when he spied Lavender Brown. The tears in her body showed that she had been attacked by a werewolf. Next to her knelt her best friend Parvati Patil. She was alive, barely, but alive. Somebody should get Madam Pomfrey he thought.

Sitting there on the window sill, he noticed that some of the dead had ghosts leaving their bodies, others did not. Now that he had been here a while, he was definitely beginning to feel his new form. Just as he decided to move, he was joined by a fellow Gryffindor, Fred Weasley. Fred nodded as he wasn't certain he could talk and Colin nodded back. Together they sat in silence watching everyone in the Great Hall each buried deep in their own thoughts. The companionable silence was suddenly interrupted by a cheer. Harry Potter was still alive and now was fighting Voldemort. Trying their new forms they floated together toward the door just as the dueling duo pushed into the Hall. They resumed their positions on the perimeter of the room and watched throughout the match.

When the duel was finally over Colin said, "I'm so glad that we had the time in DA to get to know Harry better. He was a good teacher."

Fred, trying out his voice too, quietly replied, "Yes, and a good friend to all of us."

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><p><em><strong>*J.K.R. Bloomsbury Live Chat <strong>__**30 July 2007**_

**Hogwarts School, DADA Assignment #2 part 1.  
><strong>


	2. Ch 2 Most Exciting Things In My Life

**Disclaimer: Colin was created by J.K. Rowling.**

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><p><strong>The Most Exciting Things In My Life<br>**

"I would like to say that I have had a long life, but I haven't. I have had a good life. When I was little I did not think that I would have had the adventures that were to come my way.

"How do you know you are different when you are magic and your family and friends aren't? You really don't know until somebody points it out. They might say, 'What are you doing, Colin?' or they might ask, 'How did you make the cookie jar come crashing off the shelf?' Then they try to explain it away. Things just happened.

"Do you know how exciting it is to have that magic acknowledged by a wizard showing up at your house in Chester with a letter saying that you have been invited to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry? It was the fifth most exciting thing that happened to me in my life!

"What were numbers one through four you might ask? Well, all the top five are tied, with no one being more than the others, except for number one. I will give them to you in chronological order. Number four was going to Diagon Alley for the first time and getting my books and wand. Wow! A whole new world was opened to me, and my brother Dennis, of course. I took those books home and read them especially the ones about the history of Hogwarts and the one about wizardry in the twentieth century. That second one is where I found out about Harry Potter. I heard his name mentioned when I was in Diagon Alley. He was in a dust up at the bookshop and some wizards were arguing. Later I found out that it was Lucius Malfoy and Arthur Weasley. Anyway I read about Harry Potter and found out that he was only a year older than I. The boy-who-lived was only a year older than I and I would be going to school with him. I told Dennis I would get pictures.

"The third most exciting thing was actually meeting Harry Potter. He was kind of distracted and really didn't want me to take his picture, but he wasn't downright rude like others were. I wanted Dennis to see everything before he came to Hogwarts, too.

"The second most exciting thing was waking up from being petrified ALIVE! I WAS ALIVE AND I WAS STILL A WIZARD. When you are petrified you lie there and you listen to everything that is going on around you and you try to communicate but nobody hears you. Well, that isn't exactly true. The other petrified people can hear you. I found this out when Hermione was brought into the room. She was ranting about nobody following the clues she left. She was railing against the stupidity of everyone in charge and everyone else she could think of. Finally, this other girl that was brought in at the same time, Penelope I think-she was a prefect, screamed in her mind, 'HERMIONE, GIVE IT A BREAK. THE ONLY ONES WHO CAN HEAR YOU ARE LYING ON BEDS NEAR YOU. SHUT UP!' Whoa, there was some pent up anger there on both sides.

"Anyway the most exciting thing in my life is that I am a ghost and can stay in Hogwarts forever!"

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><p><strong>Hogwarts School DADA Assignment #2 part 2<strong>


	3. Chapter 3 It isn't the Size of your Wand

**Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns the characters and locaitons in this story.**

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><p><strong>It isn't the Size of your Wand<strong>

Dennis Creevy was the smallest student at Hogwarts when he arrived. He literally made a splash by falling out of the boat on the way from the train and was saved by the Giant Squid. Now I don't know how he did it because you have permission slip signed by your guardian and be at least third year to go to Hogsmeade. But there he was in the middle of things was when as a second year he made his way to Hogsmeade and the Hogs Head for the forming meeting of Dumbledore's Army. Dennis was a good student and an adventuresome boy. He was not the Harry Potter fan that his older brother Colin was. He was in it for because he wanted to experience everything new and exciting in the world of wizards and witches. Now as a fourteen year old boy he still was mistaken for a second year due to his diminutive size. His hair was still mousy brown and his eyes still wide with excitement.

When they began the sessions in the Room of Requirement, or Come and Go Room as the elves called it, he worked harder than the others because he wanted to do well. He had an eight and a quarter inch wand, the shortest one that Olivander had made, but it was very flexible showing that he was eager to learn. It was made of aspen wood and was polished so that it looked like ivory. This was a wand that was good for dueling and charms work. The unicorn core made it consistent in the spell work. This wand and its pint-sized wizard proved proficient and he learned all the spells Harry taught. When it came to casting a patronis his proved a real surprise because it was griffin, a creature that was a mixture of an eagle and a lion. His dueling skills matched those of the older students. He eagerly learned all the defensive spells as well as the offensive spells and jinxes.

After missing school for his whole fourth year of school due to being muggle-born Dennis along with Colin was excited when their galleons lit up with the message that Harry Potter was at Hogwarts. They sneaked out of their safe house and returned with the rest of the older students. They were in the Room of Requirement when Professor McGonagall was sending all the under-aged students home to safety. Colin was caught but snuck back in by hiding in the middle of the older returning students. Dennis, however, made it past her and down to hide in and empty classroom. He fell into the line as the older students went past and quickly made his way to the Great Hall and on to the entry doors. Once outside he made his way to the Quidditch Pitch where he was soon engaged in battle with Death Eaters twice his height and two to three times his age. He remembered that Harry had said that you needed to be able to shield as well as attack and he put this knowledge to good use. His favorite spell was one called the impedimenta which he combined with repello to cause the curses coming his way to reflect back on the caster like a mirror image. He had even figured with the help of Arithmancy how to make it work similar to a bank or carom shot in billiards.

When Harry Potter was called by Lord Voldemort to come to him in an hour and there was to be a break in the fighting so that they could tend to the dead, Dennis found out that Colin had been killed. As he was kneeling next his motionless body in the Great Hall he heard a discussion off to one side. There were people that had surrendered and they needed witches and wizards to go to the Charms Classroom to protect them from Death Eaters until they could be moved. He knew that he could do no more for Colin and the battle would be resuming so he picked up Colin's wand and slipped it into his holster. Then Dennis advanced with his wand drawn for protection as he went. Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick were discussing who could be here to guard the door when he arrived. McGonagall flushed with anger that he was still in the castle but listened to his argument that as a small wizard he could sit outside the locked door and nobody would think that someone so tiny would be given such an important charge. Just as she was about to counter his argument there was an alarm that the Death Eaters were coming back and were lead by Lord Voldemort himself. Someone yelled that Hagrid had been captured and Harry was dead. The professors hurried off forgetting that they were leaving the Death Eaters in the locked room and the minute wizard guarding the door.

Dennis sat there on the floor not moving holding his wand in his hand. He tried to look nonchalant but ever vigilant as the fake Professor Moody had told them in Defense Against the Dark Arts classes. He would touch Colin's wand in his holster from time to time. He heard cheering from the courtyard and then the sounds of battle coming into the Great Hall. He sat fast. He saw Death Eaters streaking down the hall and stood to attention, but was not needed for fast on their tails were members of DA and the Order. They turned the corner and went the other way so he sat back on the floor. The battle seems to be going on for hours. Dennis sat fast.

Suddenly there was a masked Death Eater at the end of the hall. He seemed to be looking for someone because he was checking all the doors. Some of the doors were locked and the Death Eater would go in and check it out, then return to the hall and continue the checking. If the door was locked he would use Alohomora to unlock the door, then go and check the room. Dennis was certain that the people in the room he was guarding were what the Death Eater was looking for. He had to figure out a diversion to make the Death Eater think that this room had already been checked. Stealthily he opened the door and slipped in. He motioned for the persons to quietly go and hide under the desks on the other side of the room. He cast the Silencio in order to keep their movements and whispers unheard. He quickly cast Nox to darken the room and kept his hand on the door. As the Death Eater opened the unlocked door to the darkened room, Dennis bumped into him and cast a binding charm that tied up the Death Eater. Suddenly there was a roar and a great rejoicing. It seemed as though it is the battle might be over to Dennis, but he remained at the door.

Over an hour after the battle seemed to be over Professor McGonagall arrived at the classroom door with three more people to put into the room. She was surprised to see Dennis sitting there next to the tightly bound Death Eater. She had forgotten that he had been there when she left and ashamed of overlooking the charge of the defectors in the room. Dennis was adamant that he had been proud to stand guard and now had to attend to Colin and letting his parents know what had happened. As he walked away from the trio the young man reached out and said, "I wish I were as brave as you."

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><p><strong>Hogwarts School DADA Assignment #3<strong>

**Task: **For this task, I would like you to write about a character protecting or defending another character.

**Extra Credit: **Write about the defender being someone that isn't conventionally strong or powerful.


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